"The cost of Australia's Future Submarine program is likely
to blow out by billions of dollars because it is already missing key deadlines,
[Rex Patrick] a former defence contractor turned senator has warned.

...In December, [the Australian Defence Department] confirmed two planning documents due to
be released last year had yet to be finalised, but the department insisted
there had been "no delays to key milestones" and no "cost or
schedule impacts" to the $50 billion project.

Senator Rex Patrick, who once also served as a Royal
Australian Navy [RAN] submariner, has not been convinced and said some military
insiders were privately conceding the submarine program was "starting to
go a little bit off the rails".

[The Head of Australia’s Future Submarine Program since
September 2013] "Rear
Admiral [Gregory] Sammut is a highly respected and highly capable naval
officer, however he's never run a major project, he's never run a minor
project," Senator Patrick said....” See WHOLE
ABC article.

PETE's COMMENT

Given the postings rate of senior RAN officers Rear Admiral
Sammut has already headed the RAN-Project
liaison aspects of the Submarine Program for a long time since 2013. The 50 year Submarine Program will of
course see more than six changes of RAN Head.

Head of program is a shared function between senior officers
of the Prime Minister’s Department, Minister of Defence Industry, CEO of Naval
Group Australia and also Naval Group HQ Cherbourg.

Perhaps the closest thing to THE Program Manager is US Navy
Rear Admiral (retired) Stephen E. Johnson (photo below). He is General Manager Submarines in the
Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group, Australian Department of Defence. Johnson worked
for 3 years in the management team of US Virginia class submarine program
(from 1992-1995) and 6 years on the Seawolf class submarine program (1998-2003).
See Johnson’s longer bio here .

Johnson's Australian Department of Defence Position Description reads "Stephen E. Johnson commenced as General Manager Submarines in the Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group on 4 November 2015. Steve is responsible for all aspects of submarine support across Defence in Australia, working across government and industry as the project integrator of our existing submarine fleet and the Future Submarine Project." See hereand here.

1 comment:

Australia's Department of Defence appears to have taken note of Submarine Matter's article titled "Australian Submarine Expert, Senator Patrick, Forgets US Admiral Johnson" of 17 January 2018 at http://gentleseas.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/australian-submarine-expert-senator.html where Submarine Matters says in part:

"Perhaps the closest thing to THE Program Manager is US Navy Rear Admiral (retired) Stephen E. Johnson (photo below). He is General Manager Submarines in the Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group, Australian Department of Defence. Johnson worked for 3 years in the management team of US Virginia class submarine program (from 1992-1995) and 6 years on the Seawolf class submarine program (1998-2003). See Johnson’s longer bio here."

This is indicated 5 days later in Australia's Department of Defence statement https://news.defence.gov.au/media/on-the-record/future-submarine-program-statement of 22 January 2018, which says, in part:

"The team assembled to manage the Future Submarine Project is led by Mr Stephen Johnson, General Manager Submarines, who is a highly accomplished program manager.

Mr Johnson served as the Director of the Strategic Systems Program and had a major role in the design of the United States Virginia Class, as well as serving as Program Manager for the Seawolf Class. These are the most complex and advanced submarines available.

Mr Johnson’s biography can be found on the Defence website at this link: http://www.defence.gov.au/casg/multimedia/stephen_e._johnson_bio_accessible-9-7221.pdf."

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